Authorities order culling of 25,000 chickens in Tripura

Agartala: More than 5,000 poultry were culled yesterday in Tripura as authorities ordered the slaughter of 25,000 birds after laboratory tests confirmed bird flu in the northeast Indian state.

Mass culling of birds began after the Bhopal-based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus in samples collected from Mohanpur and Malaya villages, 150km north of Agartala. "The culling operations would take at least a week," said Ashim Roy Burman, director of the animal resource development department. Hundreds of chickens, ducks, crows and other birds had died in the past two weeks.